Exclusive Fallout Review, by Cannibal_sponge

**Cannibal_sponge** Fri Dec 21, 2012 2:02 am

This is a review of Fallout 3 and comparing it to Fallout: New Vegas...

Living in a underground vault society is easy, you just to remember the rules... don't kill anyone, don't intentionally harm anyone, do as the Overseers says and don't try and escape the vault.

The Fallout games are set in post-apocalyptic America, which has been ravaged by nuclear war, and over flowing with horribly radiated mutants, bandits and adventure. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, are 2 very separate games, in fact they are made by 2 different companies, Fallout 3 was developed by Bethesda Softwares, while Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the only thing the 2 games share is the same engine, and they both are based in the same world.

Fallout 3 is based in the ruins of Washington DC, and the surrounding areas. The map of both Fallout games, are huge and very open for exploration almost straight away. The world is filled with many things to collect, whether it is weapons, ammunition or other random miscellanea, like spoons and syringes. The nuclear wasteland that covers all of America, is covered in small settlements and vaults, where the player can find missions.

Vaults are underground bunkers/cities, that were created before the war, that destroyed the world. Over 100 of these vaults were created across America, they were supposed to be designed to keep the citizens safe while the war raged on. Although the American government only created a handful to actually protect people, the majority were created to house people for social experiments. An example of this is Vault 106, in which psychotic drugs were released into the air, turned everyone in the Vault into homicidal maniacs. Another, example of one of these Vault experiments, is Vault 69, which was populated with 1 man and 999 women.

The Vault in which you spend the tutorial of Fallout 3, Vault 101, is another example of a Vault experiment, but this vault is meant to never open, and is designed to keep people inside.

The tutorial for Fallout 3 is one of the best tutorials I have played, The game begins starts and your are a baby. You then customise your character with a wide range of hair, facial hair and face structures . You then begin to age and as you do you learn the basics, of the game, like the controls and how to shoot. You learn different aspects of the game as you grow older, and finally when you reach the age of 18 you are plunged into the world, and not long after this you are free to do whatever you want!

I was disappointed when Obsidian Entertainment did not reuse this idea of starting inside of some kind of vault, or even a town, they also did not use the aging tutorial concept, in New Vegas.

The most iconic game play aspect in all the Fallout games, is the VATS system, which allows the player to occasionally stop time and aim and shoot at a specific parts of their enemies body, it is like a more in depth version of dead eye from Red Dead Redemption. It feels very unique, and it is one of the best parts of the game.

The perk tree, in both games allows the player to expand on their current skills, and will allow you to make your player unique, and stronger in certain ways, such as your lock picking skill, small weapon, scientific skills and more. This perk tree is simply to understand, but does lack depth. This is one of the mechanics that will make your player, different and your own, in a sense, because it is what skills you choose to be good or bad at.

One of the most important parts of the setting of the game, is the radioactivity of the wasteland, and to really sell that idea, Bethesda Softwares and Obsidian Entertainment, have designed some very original and new ideas for mutated friends and foes. Just one example of this is the Super Mutants, which are large green mutant humanoid creatures, that are usually very aggressive.

These Super Mutants a very common in Fallout 3, and I will never forget the terror I felt ,when I saw the silhouette of my first Super Mutant. I again let down by New Vegas when I learned that these enemies are very hard to find in the latter game.

One other thing about Fallout: New Vegas that I didn't quite like, was the fact that it felt a lot more "Western-y", and it didn't really feel like the Fallout that I knew, after playing Fallout 3.

Although, Fallout: New Vegas didn't completely disappointed me, it actually has an enormous mechanic that should be in more games, and that is the Hardcore mode. This mode forces the player to eat, sleep and drink regularly, or they will start to starve, dehydrate or become sleep deprived, these will all cause you to die. Other features of hardcore mode, make the game more realistic, like, sleeping will not heal you, and medicine heals you over time, instead of instantly.

Personally I thought that Fallout 3 was better, than Fallout: New Vegas but they are good games.

Although, they are both very buggy, especially on release, not major bugs just small ones, that you notice, but don't actually change game play, like floating corpses and other small things like that.

Personally I think that Fallout: New Vegas wasn't as good as Fallout 3, but together I give them 8.5 out of 10.

I could have written much more about these 2 games, but I didn't want to drag it out for too much longer.

~Cannibal_sponge (Jacob Johnston)

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